Portland Burger Week 2017 Comes to a Close

Portland Burger Week 2017 comes to a close today, and I do intend to go out with a final delicious burger, however, this is one of the first years I’m kind of ok with things ending–I think it has everything to do with the impressive change in the weather yesterday evening into today.

The rain returned.

You might think it odd that I’m dedicating the open of an entire post to the rain returning, but it had been nearly 60 days since we’d seen a drop. 2 MONTHS. And in that time temperatures in Portland spiked near record highs, fires (both locally and in other parts of the world) impacted our air quality and visibility, and the will to cook was temporarily lost. I became resigned to only turning on the stove early in the morning or after 10pm, and we grilled everything we could to keep the heat out of the house. Then last night around 9pm, it rained drizzled, really. We were sitting outside enjoying a fire with friends and it was so surprising and welcomed that we all stopped talking for a few moments and tipped our heads upwards to feel the droplets hit our skin. And now I can nearly taste fall. I’m thinking about canning some heirlooms for September soups and sauces–freezing peaches so that in November I can pull them out and eat them for a week with nothing more than a spoon…I just need to keep telling myself, it’s August. It’s August. It’s. AUGUST.

Burger Week!!! Here’s a complete list of the burgers we consumed this week–

DOUBLE BARREL

*Descriptions from The Portland Mercury’s Burger Week Site*

Curd Is the Word!
Here’s a burger the Trashmen would approve of: Double Barrel Tavern’s Curd Is the Word! boasts the undeniable pairing of ground beef and squeaky, chewy cheese curds. More specifically, it’s Painted Hills beef, so you know exactly where it came from, and the cheese curds are accompanied by gravy and crisped potatoes in what I can only imagine is a wise homage to Canadian superfood poutine. (There’s also butter lettuce, because they had to get a veggie in there somewhere, right?) It’s enough to make you manically repeat the phrase “The curd is the word!” Or you would, if your mouth weren’t full of delicious dairy and protein.

HOME, A BAR

*Descriptions from The Portland Mercury’s Burger Week Site*

The Dirty Picnic
The best part of a picnic is that last bite, when all the flavors come together, like a family reunion without fighting and disappointment (if those exist). Home, A Bar captures the fleeting feeling of that last bite with the Dirty Picnic, featuring beans, chips, coleslaw, meat, bacon, cheese, hot dogs, and a bun. This is a feat of burger engineering: using the space between a bun as a vehicle for an entirely separate culinary experience! But that’s the Dirty Picnic’s deal—it just loves bringing people together. Come Home and get yours.

The search is over. My #portlandburgerweek just may have hit its crest–meet the Dirty Picnic from @homebarpdx — beans, chips, cole slaw, meat, cheese, and hotdogs on a bun. Bravo @dieselboi and co. ❤️

BOISE FRY CO.

*Descriptions from The Portland Mercury’s Burger Week Site*

The Real American Hero Burger

The United States is in peril, so we need Boise Fry Company’s Real American Hero Burger more than ever before. It’s an all-natural, seasoned chuck patty topped with delicious charred onion aioli, thick-cut bacon, house-made dill pickles, and American cheese on a sesame seed bun. USA! USA! While you’re there, you should probably order a side of fries, too: There are six BFC locations, and the other five are in Idaho, so they really know how to serve a potato.

A solid choice for a classic take on a burger–enjoyed an all-natural, seasoned chuck patty topped with delicious charred onion aioli, thick-cut bacon, house-made dill pickles, and American cheese on a sesame seed bun. USA! USA! Also so many sauce options! #portlandburgerweek #inpdx #pdxnow #latergram #burger #summer

ICONIC

*Descriptions from The Portland Mercury’s Burger Week Site*

Southern Chowdown

We have no beef with Iconic’s Southern cookout-inspired burger, made with ground pork and bacon. This piggy patty is coated in dry rub and grilled with barbecue sauce for extra goodness, just like they do in the southland—calories be damned.That hyper-juicy meat is set atop a chewy cornbread bun that’s been bedecked with a delicious housemade Southern chow-chow chutney, and then covered in a cabbage slaw. Wash it down with an iconic bourbon-based drink and you’re set for a real hootenanny.

@iconicpdx Southern Chowdown | pork and bacon. This piggy patty is coated in dry rub and grilled with barbecue sauce for extra goodness, just like they do in the southland—calories be damned.That hyper-juicy meat is set atop a chewy cornbread bun that’s been bedecked with a delicious housemade Southern chow-chow chutney, and then covered in a cabbage slaw #portlandburgerweek #portlandnw #inpdx #pdxnow #latergram

ELEPHANTS DELICATESSEN

*Descriptions from The Portland Mercury’s Burger Week Site*The Pig Kahuna
Keeping in tradition with their previous Burger Week offerings the Pig Lebowski and the Pig Mac, Elephant’s Pig Kahuna burger is constructed around a pork-based patty that sets it apart from more traditional beef offerings. Utilizing a staff favorite “hamloaf” recipe for the base, Elephant’s then coats the meat with a pineapple-bourbon sauce that brings things to just the right level of sweetness, before balancing it out with a little spice in the form of roasted jalapeños and pepperjack. Add a layer of shredded lettuce to provide a bit of crunch that doubles as a cooling note, then stack it all up on a homemade sesame seed bun, and you’ve got a scrumptious Burger Week offering.

So all in, about 5 burgers each–not bad! The only thing that’s sad is that Burger week goes Monday through Saturday–So if you were thinking about heading out today to have your favorite ONE LAST TIME, you are too late.

Did you partake in Portland Burger Week this year? How’d you think it went? Who had your favorite? Hit me up on social and let’s talk burgers!

As always, if you’d like to follow my travels in real time, remember to follow me on Instagram at @TheSpicyBee — have a wonderful week!

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1 Comment

Thanks for the rundown of your intersection with Burger Week, Bee. I tried the burger at New Seasons but was not a fan. I am sorry to have missed most of it but next year I’ll make a point of chowing down! Thanks again for the roundup.

4 days agoby TheSpicyBeeLet’s pause for a moment as I would like to call out my main squeeze Ktams for really going above and beyond recently. *** A few weeks ago our fridge bit the big one at the young age of 4 yrs old. Distraught, we salvaged what we could from the fridge and began the stress inducing process of deciding whether we spend the money on a repair person coming out (that we had deduced would cost nearly as much as replacing the fridge) or coming up with about 1.5K to replace it. He came up with an option C which